The Hating Game (36 page)

Jess got up and paced back and forth across her small studio. The person at the show had told her Adam was fine. But she didn’t believe it, especially with what she’d seen in his flat! And after his aggression on the rugby field, now she wasn’t just worried for Mattie, she was worried for Kyle, too. Who knew what Adam might do to get to Mattie, if he thought Kyle was in his way?

She sank back onto the sofa.
She could sit here fingers crossed and hope for the best, like always. But now two friends might be in grave danger. Waiting around to see what happened wasn’t an option: she had to act. And fast!

Hang on
– she still had the number for that reporter, Deniz. Deniz would jump at the chance for more contestant gossip. If Jess spilled the beans on what Adam had in his flat and how he’d stalked Mattie – and Deniz reported it in a national newspaper – then surely the show would
have
to stop broadcasting, right?

Jess picked up her ph
one and dialled Deniz’s number, fingers shaking as she recalled how wrong her last conversation with the tabloid reporter had gone. But this time was different. This time, her friends’ safety was on the line. And the information Jess had could help save them.

CHAPTER TWENTY-SIX

Fifty per cent
of men admit to feeling threatened by other males in their partner’s life.

F
ourteen per cent of marriage break-ups involve these other males.

NATE YAWNED AS HE AND BAZ sat
holding their BlackBerries, waiting for Silver to ring. It was six a.m. on Thursday, and Ginny had texted around five to let them know Silver would be calling.

Baz jiggled his leg
nervously. ‘What do you think she wants?’

Nate shrugged, enjoying the tense expression on Baz’s normally confident face. ‘Who knows? To tell us to murder someone today, for added drama?’

Baz shot him a surprised look at the nonchalant reply, but Nate just sighed, tired from all the intrigue. Pushing Mattie out, denying Adam vital medication and bringing back Kyle to stir up the whole thing was so far from his original concept he could hardly muster any feelings of pride any more. What had once felt like
his
show had now become a car crash. The whole thing couldn’t be over fast enough.

‘
Last night
was great, eh?’ Baz crowed. ‘Did you see how Adam lunged at Mattie? And then when Kyle came in . . .’ He shook his head and rubbed his hands together. ‘I can’t wait to watch them in action today.’

Nate grunted, staring at Baz. How did someone develop sadistic enjoyment of others’ discomfort?

‘
So today we’ve got the sea kayaking,’ Baz said, grabbing the schedule. ‘And we need to ramp up the conflict between Adam and Kyle, get them to be really competitive and see if Adam explodes again! Like on the rugby field.’

Baz’s BlackBerry rang and he lunged for it. ‘Hello? Yes, hello, Silver, good morning. Y
es, he’s right here. I’ll just put you on speaker.’ Baz pressed a button and placed the phone in the centre of the table.

‘
Hello, Silver. Can you hear me? Silver, Silver?’ Nate said.

There was an impatient noise, and then the sound of chewing
. ‘Of course I can hear you. Now run me through today.’

Baz jumped in before Nate could open his mouth but Nate didn’t really care. He leaned back, stretched his legs and yawned again. ‘We’re going to really make sure Adam loses it this time!’ Baz said confidently.

‘
And how exactly are you going to do that?’ Silver asked.

There was
silence. The two of them looked at each other, petrified.

‘
Nate has a plan,’ Baz blurted out.

Nate stared. Bloody Baz! He knew Nate had nothing.

‘
Really? What is it?’

Shit. What could he say?

‘
Nate, have you gone deaf as well as dumb?’ Silver’s clipped tone screeched out of the small phone speaker.

Nate
suddenly decided he would use this to his – and Mattie’s and Kyle’s – advantage. ‘Actually, Silver, I don’t think we should push Adam too far, at least not until tomorrow when the advertising slots run out. A little competition’s good but I think we should leave it at that. X-ACT will lose revenue if Adam blows too soon.’ Ha! He didn’t think he’d ever openly disagreed with Baz, and Baz looked as stunned as if Nate had announced his impending marriage to Claudia Schiffer.

There was a long pause. More chewing, then:
‘Thank God one of you has an ounce of brains hidden in your tiny little heads. Baz, why you’d want to jeopardise the show before the final day is beyond me.’

Nate shot a victorious look at Baz, who deflated as though someone had pulled his plug.

A loud gulp came though the phone and Silver smacked her lips. ‘We need a bit of a lull, to build up tension for the final push tomorrow. I’ll be over later tonight – I want to ensure everything’s set for the big day tomorrow. Baz, get a caravan ready.’

‘
Sure
.’ Baz glared at Nate.

Silver hung up without saying goodbye.

‘
Can you make me a cup of tea?’ Nate said, standing up. ‘I’m going to have a shower.’ He shuffled off towards the loo, smiling to himself as he pictured the expression on Baz’s face.

*

Adam shook his head to clear it as Baz nattered on about their Relationship Repair activity that day: sea kayaking, meant to get them back in touch with nature and their basic survival instincts. Adam’s temples throbbed from all the wine last night. But worse, his heart ached as he recalled what had happened. What a fucking disaster!

He’d meant to show Mattie his softer side and instead he’d ended up acting like a
lunatic
. It was just when she called him . . . Stumpy; it still brought back so many bad memories. He grabbed his head. Whatever happened to the calm hero he was supposed to be?

But losing his cool wasn’t the worst
. The worst was
Kyle
. Adam had always hated him, even back when Kyle and Mattie had just been working together. He’d known Kyle had designs on Mattie even before Mattie knew herself – watching the two of them dance around each other for months, it was pretty obvious. Chloe Collins had been a godsend and when they were all over, Adam thought he might finally have a chance again.

But even though Mattie had gone through men like wildfire, she’d continued mooning over Kyle for months. He had several surveillance tapes full of Mattie ranting to Jess about it. The woman really
had
cared for him, and Adam had patiently waited on the sidelines for her to get over it.

He was sure she had moved on, especially after the Chloe business and Mattie rejecting Kyle on national telly. But now the blond mimbo was back and Adam couldn’t help but notice Mattie acting strangely when he was around – an extremely bad sign, as far as Adam was concerned. Obviously those producers thought she still had feelings, too, or they wouldn’t have brought Kyle back again to stir things up.

Whatever happened
, Adam wasn’t going to quit. Sure, he’d slipped up, but it wasn’t too late to recover. He would be the hero of the hour, not Kyle. And what did heroes do? They rescued damsels in distress – not that Mattie had ever seemed to be that. But maybe he could
make
her be, somehow . . . An idea filtered into Adam’s head and he sat up straight, hope pouring back into well-buffed limbs.

He
looked over at Mattie, who even now was darting glances at Kyle. Soon she’d forget all about him, Adam was sure. Just wait until they got on the water.

*

Mattie followed Adam and Kyle down the slippery bank towards the beach
. The tight band of the headpiece holding the small portable camera pinched her scalp, and the beginnings of a headache pressed behind her eyes. Even wearing a wetsuit, the icy wind was almost paralytic.

‘
Come on, dudes. Everybody in!’ the dopey instructor called, slapping his own kayak into the choppy waves and moving out to sea.
Up above, a helicopter buzzed and Mattie could just make out the silhouette of Ram and his camera through the open door.

Adam and Kyle
got into their kayaks and expertly paddled away from her. Her teeth chattered from the cold (the clammy wetsuit was freezing against her skin) but also from fear. Sure, the life-vest was supposed to save her if she fell into the churning water, but . . . she couldn’t swim. At all. Survival instinct, her arse. If she really wanted to survive, she’d stay out of the water!

‘
Mattie!
’ the instructor called. He looked like he’d smoked a whole field of pot that morning – not exactly a dependable person to call on if need be. Kyle glanced towards her as he moved his kayak through the waves.

Mattie sighed.
Kyle knew she hated immersing herself in any body of water that wasn’t a bath, yet he hadn’t stopped to help her – even to poke fun like he had in the past. In fact, he hadn’t spoken to her all day, despite their near-collision in the corridor when he returned to the caravan after an early-morning run. This impenetrable Kyle was like a stranger.

Fuck it!
A burst of anger replaced the fear and hurt inside of her and she grabbed the kayak and heaved it into the water. She’d show Kyle she wasn’t afraid; that she didn’t need anyone’s help. Waves fizzed around her ankles but she ignored them, trying not to wince as the boat knocked against her shins in the foaming water. She climbed inside and positioned herself against the slanted seat, grabbing the paddle and stabbing it at the sea.

Hey! She was moving! This wasn’t so bad, she thought as she glided across the water. A wave crashed into the boat and the salt stung her eyes. Shit. Okay, it was relatively bad. She wiped her face and forced the boat forward. Her heart pounded and she tried not to estimate the depth of the water below. Finally she managed to pull alongside Adam, Kyle and the droopy-eyed instructor.

‘
Right. We’re going to paddle along the cliff there,’ – Mattie gulped at the sight of the white cliffs jutting out into the sea, a million miles away – ‘and back again,’ the instructor said. ‘If you do flip into the water, just stay calm. I’ll come get you and help you back in the kayak.’

‘
What do you mean, flip?’ Mattie squeaked. How was that even a possibility? She eyed the angry-looking waves rolling towards shore.

‘
No worries
,’ the instructor drawled. ‘These kayaks are really big and stable, meant for beginners. It takes a lot to flip them over. It’s just the waves are pretty huge today so it might happen. But you’ve got the life vest on so it’s not like you’re going to drown. Let’s get going, dudes.’ He pushed away from her and started moving smoothly across the water.

‘
Wait!’ Mattie called but the wind tossed away the sound. The waves bobbed the kayak up and down like crazy and she was drifting further away from shore. Sighing and pushing the paddle in the water again, she tried to catch up with the others.

A
fter what felt like ages, she managed it, panting like crazy. Although the temperature had to be less than ten degrees, sweat was breaking out on her forehead. Mattie knew her curls must look as crazed as Adam’s weird stare, and catching Kyle looking, she pushed one behind her ear. As soon as their eyes met, he turned away.

The instructor manoeuvred them into a row, with Adam on one side and Kyle on the other. ‘Catch your breath,’ he commanded. Annoyingly, she seemed to be the only one panting. God, the gym was a number one priority the moment she got back. Nevertheless, the physical pain helped minimise the horrible fact they were miles from land. She gulped, trying not to think about it.

‘
Oh, look! Seals!’ A
dam pointed far out into the ocean.

Kyle and the
instructor turned to look. Mattie let go of the side of the instructor’s boat to shield her eyes as she scanned the waves. ‘Where?’

‘
Just there. Don’t you see them
?’

No. There were just
waves, waves and more waves. Turning back to ask the instructor if they could head to shore, Mattie discovered with a shock she was a good thirty feet from the group and drifting fast out to sea. Reaching for her paddle brought another shock. It was gone!

‘
Adam! Kyle!’ She waved her arms, feeling like an idiot. Where had that paddle disappeared to?

The wind whipped away her
voice and the men were so busy examining something else Adam was pointing at, they didn’t even notice her.

Shit
! She was bobbing further and further away from them, almost out of the sheltered cove and into the open sea where – she shivered nervously – the waves appeared twice as big. Definitely large enough to flip the boat. Fear clogged her throat.

‘
Help!’ she screamed again. Then suddenly Adam looked over, saw her, and peeled away from Kyle and the instructor. Thank God someone had spotted her.